Ministerial Advisers in Australia

… an impressive study of a contemporary issue of the utmost importance to the sustainability of the Australian system of responsible government, namely, the legal and political accountability of ministerial advisers. It argues that ministerial advisers should appear before parliamentary committees in the interest of executive accountability. The book is, first, a study of Commonwealth practices and, secondly, an outline of select case studies from the various state jurisdictions … The book powerfully combines empirical and doctrinal research strategies into an irresistible argument for the appearance of ministerial advisers before parliamentary committees. It finds support for this complete assessment on a myriad of references, unfailingly appropriate in their currency and rigour, in addition to numerous interviews and freedom of information (‘FOI’) requests. The book follows a perfectly logical structure - largely thematic - allowing the argument to develop incrementally, almost without interruption, while the appendices are a brilliant example of the positive significance of empirical research to legal scholarship. It complements a correct research methodology with an approach to juridical analysis that is both thorough in form and reflective in substance. … The book is an exemplary work of contemporary legal scholarship, one that benefits from interdisciplinary engagement and empirical research. The intent of the empirical research here is to explore and discover, which is laudable and shows a real curiosity for the topic. Dr Yee-Fui Ng is to be commended for her brave and brilliant intellectual initiative and Ministerial Advisers in Australia: The Modern Legal Context warrants thanks and praise as the first study of the regulation of ministerial advisers in Australia. Read full review… - Gonzalo Villalta Puig, Monash University Law Review, Vol 42, No 2, 2016 Yee-Fui Ng’s monograph is the first comprehensive study of the legal and parliamentary accountability of … advisers. The ambiguous status of the adviser in law and practice presents a challenge for anyone setting out to explain how they might be held to account. Indeed, Ng employs the ‘primordial soup’ as an analogy for their barely regulated status. Yet their ever increasing number, influence over policy and administration, and evolving function as gatekeeper, determining flow of information and access to ministers, warrant a formal scrutiny hitherto lacking. While the roles and functions of ministerial advisers at the Commonwealth level have been the subject of some fruitful study over the years, this has been largely confined to political science and public administration. Drawing on this research, Ng deftly sketches the origins and evolution of the adviser role since the Whitlam government. … Published as a finalist for Federation Press’ Holt Prize to commemorate its late co-founder, Chris Holt, ‘Ministerial Advisers in Australia’ will be a valued addition to the likes of Enid Campbell’s Parliamentary Privilege and the various parliamentary manuals on practice and procedure, as guides on the legal extent of and checks on political power. Read full review… - Stephen Murray, Alternative Law Journal, Vol 41:4 2016 This is a most interesting monograph which considers an important area of uncharted public law; being the legal position of ministerial advisers. As at last 16 October 2015, there were 423 ministerial advisers appointed by Commonwealth Ministers. In general terms they inhabit an area between the Minister and the public service, yet they are neither subject to the obligations of public servants nor the responsibilities of Ministers. They are not referred to in the Constitution. Indeed, they were not part of the political landscape at the time when the Constitution was written. However, despite that they wield substantial power in the operation of government and, to a large extent, they remain unaccountable in a legal sense for their conduct. They are employed under Pt III of the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 and are paid for out of the public purse. In her work Dr Ng carefully considers the history of the rise of the position of the ministerial adviser and the expansion of their roles over time. She observes that they are effectively unregulated in a public law sense, being only susceptible to the discipline of their ministers and thereby undermine the role of the public service: “Ministerial advisers do not fit neatly into the structure of Australian public administration. The system of a neutral, impartial public service recruited and promoted on merit that Australia adopted from the United Kingdom was developed as a reaction against patronage and the inefficiencies that would result from a system of patronage. The emergence of ministerial advisers who are recruited largely on the basis of patronage poses a threat to this system.” Dr Ng postulates that some regulation of ministerial advisers may occur through the use of judicial review on the basis that their exercise of power can be seen as that of the Minister. That, however, seems to be spectacularly inadequate. They may also be regulated through the Parliament, however, she observes that the main political parties have a substantial degree of self-interest when it comes to controlling such advisers and that attempts to have ministerial advisers appear before Parliamentary Committees has proven to be unsuccessful. This work, whose author was a winner of the Holt Prize (which is a publishing award named after the late co-founder of The Federation Press) is a fascinating read. It raises legitimate concerns as to the role of ministerial advisers in all areas of government and offers some useful suggestions for reform. - Queensland Law Reporter - 7 October 2016 - [2016] 39 QLR

Yee-Fui researches in the areas of political integrity and the law, as well as the interaction between public law and politics. She is particularly interested in the influences on the contemporary Executive, such as ministerial advisers, the media and lobby groups, which has led to reactive government decision-making and policy-making. She has conducted commissioned research in multidisciplinary teams on local government democracy and the regulation of political lobbying.

Yee-Fui was awarded the Monash Silver Jubilee Postgraduate Research Scholarship, as the highest ranking PhD applicant in the University, as well as the Monash Postgraduate Law Dean’s Award, as the top-ranking PhD applicant in the Monash Law Faculty.

Dr. Ng is a Victorian Convenor of the Electoral Regulation Research Network. She has previously worked as a Policy Adviser at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, a Senior Legal Adviser at the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet, as well as a Manager at the Victorian Department of Justice. Yee-Fui has also practised as a solicitor at top tier law firms in Melbourne, London and Canberra. She has researched and taught at the Australian National University and Monash University.